Email based task management system

ABSTRACT

An electronic information system which enables email based transactions comprises an information database storing information regarding a plurality of individuals in a group and selections available to individuals in the group. A first email message with a mailto hyperlink having a plurality of fields including actionable parameter is generated and sent. A reply email message is received in response to selection of the mailto hyperlink. The received email message includes the plurality of fields and the actionable parameter that indicates that a specific selection has been made. A processor performs the action indicated by the actionable parameter in response to the received email message, including updating the information database to indicate the specific selection that has been made.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/970,177 filed Aug. 19, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/896,533 filed Oct. 1, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No.8,516,062, issued Aug. 20, 2013, and is related to co-pendingapplication to Killoran et al., entitled “Generation and Retrieval ofReport Information,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/180,584 filedJun. 13, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/577,140 filed Dec. 19, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,369,423, issuedJun. 14, 2016, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 12/896,644, filed Oct. 1, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,918,467, issuedDec. 23, 2014, which are herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the storage,communication, and display of task-related data.

BACKGROUND

An organization, such as a military unit, commercial enterprise, orother type of organization, may be required to periodically perform oneor more tasks in order to achieve goals and/or comply with requirementsassociated with their particular domain. As one example, a commercialenterprise or military unit may be required to comply with environmentalregulations. Conformance to the environmental regulations may requirethe periodic performance of tasks such as inspecting hazardous wasteaccumulation areas, complete hazardous material inventories, updating ormaintaining environmental records, and/or other tasks.

Current information management systems allow organizations to definetasks, assign tasks to workers, and monitor completion of the tasks thathave been assigned to workers. However, these information managementsystems are difficult to use, unnecessarily complex, and frequentlyinclude many features that are not of interest to the user. Further,these information management systems typically include their own log inand/or authentication mechanisms, thereby adding an additional layer ofcomplexity and inconvenience to their use. Therefore, new informationmanagement technologies are required that provide a more streamlined andstraightforward user experience than what is provided in the currenttechnologies.

SUMMARY

An information management system may store information related to tasksto be performed by workers in an organization, and may transmitinformation to the workers regarding tasks they are expected to perform.Further, the information management system may receive information fromthe workers regarding the progress of the performance of tasks, such aswhether a particular task has been completed or is still in progress.The information management system may also receive requests to generatereports regarding task progress across the organization, and communicatethe generated reports to workers. Communication between the workers andthe information management system may be performed using email messages.The information management system may not require a login orauthentication procedure that is specific to the information managementsystem, and workers may interact with the information management systemwithout logging in to the information management system.

The information management system may be included in an architecturethat also includes one or more client modules such as an email clientmodule and/or a report display module that are used by a worker in theorganization. The information management system may generate an emailmessage for transmission to the worker. The email message may includeone or more mailto hyperlinks that describe a new email message that maybe generated when the hyperlink is selected. The worker may select oneof the hyperlinks, thereby generating a new email message. The new emailmessage may include a subject field that includes an action typeparameter. The action type parameter may describe an action to beperformed by the information management system. The new email messagemay then be sent to the information management system. The informationmanagement system may then perform the action indicated by the actiontype parameter. The action may be, for example, updating a database toindicate that a task has been completed or is incomplete, reassigning atask from one worker to another, or generating and transmitting a reportto a worker.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description,given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 shows an example architecture that may be used for thecommunication, storage, and display of information related to taskmanagement;

FIGS. 2A-2B show a method for the communication of an alert message to aworker and for updating the task information database 116 based on aresponse to the alert message

FIG. 3 shows an example email display window that may be used to displayan email message;

FIG. 4 shows an example message composition window that may be used todisplay, edit, and/or transmit an email message;

FIGS. 5A-5B show a method for updating a task information database withinformation related to new workers, new tasks, and/or new assignments oftasks to workers;

FIG. 6 shows an example email display window that may be used to displayan email message;

FIGS. 7A-7B show a first method for the generation and transmission of areport that describe the status of task completion;

FIG. 8 shows an example email display window that may be used to displayan email message;

FIG. 9 shows a first example page of a report that may be generated byan information management system;

FIG. 10 shows a second example page of a report that may be generated byan information management system;

FIG. 11 shows a second method for the generation and transmission of areport that describe the status of task completion; and

FIG. 12 shows an example system that may be used to implement thearchitecture of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an example architecture 110 that may be used for thecommunication, storage, and display of information related to taskmanagement. The example architecture 110 includes an informationmanagement system 100 and a worker email client module 118. As will bedescribed in further detail below, the information management system 100may store information related to tasks to be performed by workers in anorganization, and may transmit information to the workers regardingtasks they are expected to perform. Further, the information managementsystem 100 may receive information from the workers regarding theprogress of the performance of tasks (e.g., whether a particular taskhas been completed or is still in progress). The information managementsystem 100 may also generate reports regarding task progress across theorganization, and communicate the reports to workers.

The information management system 100 may include a report module 102,an update module 104, an alert module 106, a system email client module108, a report display module 112, a database module 114, and a taskinformation database 116. The task information database 116 may storeinformation related to one or more tasks, one or more organizations, andone or more workers, and/or other task-related information. The databasemodule 114 may perform functionality such as adding data to, modifyingdata in, querying data from, and/or retrieving data from the taskinformation database 116.

The alert module 106 may perform functionality such as determining whenan alert message related to a task should be sent to a worker. An alertmessage may indicate, for example, that the worker is required tocomplete a task and/or what the worker is required to perform in orderto complete the task.

The system email client module 108 may perform functionality such as thetransmission and reception of email messages. The system email clientmodule 108 may be configured to use one or more email accounts that areassociated with the information management system 100, and to receivemessages associated with the one or more email accounts. As an example,when the alert module 106 makes a determination that an alert messageshould be sent to a worker, the alert module 106 may communicate thecontents of the email message to the system email client module 108, andthe system email client module 108 may transmit a corresponding emailmessage. Further, when a new email message is received at an emailaccount used by the system email client module 108, the system emailclient module 108 may communicate the email messages to the updatemodule 104 and/or the report module 102.

The update module 104 may perform functionality related to updating thetask information database 116 based on emails from workers that arereceived by the system email client module 108. For example, the updatemodule 104 may periodically check the system email client module 108 todetermine if a new email message has been received. If the update module104 determines that an email message indicates that a task has beencompleted, the update module 104 (in conjunction with the databasemodule 114) may update the task information database 116 accordingly.

The report module 102 may perform functionality related to providingreports to workers in the organization. For example, the report module102 may periodically check the system email client module 108 todetermine if a new email message has been received. If the report module102 determines that a new email message has been received that indicatesa request for a report from a worker, the report module 102 may generatethe corresponding report, and may communicate the report to the systememail client module 108. The system email client module 108 may thentransmit a corresponding email message that includes the report to theworker that requested the report. The report display module 112 may thendisplay the report via a display device (not depicted).

The worker email client module 118 may perform functionality related tothe communication and display of email messages. The worker email clientmodule 118 may be configured to use an email account that is associatedwith a worker in the organization, and to receive messages associatedwith the email account.

The system email client module 108 and/or the worker email client module118 may communicate email messages using technologies such as SimpleMail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Post Office Protocol (POP) technology,Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Remote Procedure Call (RPC)technology, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and/or other appropriatetechnologies. The system email client module 108 and/or the worker emailclient module 118 may be or include an email client such as MicrosoftOutlook, Thunderbird, a web browser, or any other client application forthe communication of email messages. The system email client module 108and/or worker email client module 118 may communicate email messages viaone or more email servers (not depicted).

The task information database 116 may be spread across one or any numberof computer-readable storage media (not depicted). The task informationdatabase 116 may be or include, for example, a relational database, ahierarchical database, an object-oriented database, a flat file, aspreadsheet, or a structured file. The database module 114 may interfacewith a database management system (not depicted) in order to add datato, modify data in, or obtain data from the task information database116. Alternatively or additionally, the database module 114 may performdatabase drive and/or database client functionality to interact with thedatabase management system. The database management system may be basedon a technology such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, MySQL,PostgreSQL, Oracle Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), or anyother appropriate technology.

The task information database 116 may include data that describes tasksin terms of “recurrences.” A “recurrence” is an instance of aperformance of a task. As an example, an organization may be requiredupdate its hazardous material inventories once per month. In thisexample, the “task” is updating hazardous material inventories, and thetask is associated with a “recurrence” for each month. The taskinformation database 116 may therefore include information thatindicates that the task is associated with a recurrence each month.Further, for each task, the task information database 116 may includeinformation such as one of or any combination of the following: anidentifier of the task; a name of the task; a description of the task;an area related to the task; a date on which the task is due; an enddate for the task; one or more alert dates that indicate when alertmessages related to the task should be sent; files that are related tothe task; an identifier of a worker to whom the task should be escalatedif the task is not timely completed; recurrence information; and/orother information. Recurrence information for a task may include, forexample, how often a task recurs, in which week a task recurs, on whatday a task recurs, and/or other information.

For each recurrence of a task, the task information database 116 mayinclude information such as one of or any combination of the following:an identifier of the recurrence; an identifier of the associated task; adate on which the task/recurrence must be performed; one or more dateson which alerts related to the recurrence should be sent; informationthat indicates whether alerts related to the recurrence have been sent;an identifier of the worker assigned to perform the task/recurrence;information that indicates when and/or if information an escalationemail was sent; information related to performance of thetask/recurrence; and/or other information. Information related toperformance of the task/recurrence may include, for example, informationthat indicates that the task has been completed or is still in progress,a time at which the worker indicated that the recurrence was completedor is still in progress, an identifier of the worker who completed therecurrence, and/or comments from the worker related to progress of theperformance of the recurrence. A spell-checker module (not depicted) inthe information management system 100 may periodically perform spellingand grammar corrections on the comments that are included in the taskinformation database 116.

For each worker, the task information database 116 may includeinformation such as one of or any combination of the following: anidentifier; a first name; a last name; a position title or jobdescription; an email address; one or more phone numbers; one or morefax numbers; an identifier of the organization with which the worker isassociated; and/or other information. The information may also includeprivileges and/or security information, such as whether the worker isauthorized as an administrator and/or what level of privileges arepossessed by the worker. The task information database 116 may alsoinclude information that describes one or more email signaturesassociated with the worker.

For each organization in the task information database 116, informationmay be stored such as: an identifier of the organization; a name of theorganization; a description of the organization; and/or otherinformation. The task information database 116 may also includeinformation that describes facilities that are associated with anorganization. For each facility in the task information database 116,the task information database 116 may include information such as thename of the facility and the address of the facility. The taskinformation database 116 may also include information that indicateswhich facility a worker is associated with.

Each or any combination of the modules 102, 104, 106, 108, 112, 114, 118may be implemented as software modules, specific-purpose processorelements, or as combinations thereof. Suitable software modules include,by way of example, an executable program, a function, a method call, aprocedure, a routine or sub-routine, one or more processor-executableinstructions, an object, or a data structure.

Further characteristics of the modules 102, 104, 106, 108, 112, 114, 118are described below with references to FIGS. 2A-12.

FIGS. 2A-2B show a method for the communication of an alert message to aworker and for updating the task information database 116 based on aresponse to the alert message. As will be described in further detailbelow, the alert message may indicate that a task recurrence is expectedto be performed by the worker. FIGS. 2A-2B show the database module 114,the update module 104, the alert module 106, the system email clientmodule 108, and the worker email client module 118.

The method of FIGS. 2A-2B may begin with the alert module 106determining that an alert related to a task recurrence should be sent(step 232). This determination may be performed based on data obtainedvia the database module 114 from the task information database 116. Asone example, the alert module 106 may receive information from the taskinformation database 116 that indicates that, for a particular taskrecurrence, an alert email is past due and has not been sent.

The alert module 106 and/or the system email client module 108 may thengenerate an email message to be transmitted to the worker assigned toperform the recurrence of the task (step 234). The email message maydescribe the task recurrence to be performed. The email message may alsoinclude one or more attachments that provide information regarding thetask recurrence to be performed. The email message may be indicate thatit is being sent by one of the email accounts used by the system emailclient module 108. Further, the email message may include one or morehyperlinks that, when clicked by the worker, will create a new emailmessage that the worker may use to respond to the email messagegenerated by the alert module 106 and/or system email client module 108.

The system email client module 108 may then transmit the generated emailmessage (step 236). The email message may be received by the workeremail client module 118, and displayed by the worker email client module118 (step 238).

Referring now to both FIG. 2A and FIG. 3, FIG. 3 shows an example emaildisplay window 320 that may be used by the worker email client module118 to display the email message (step 238). The email display window320 of FIG. 3 includes a Reply button 322, a control area 324, and amessage body area 326. The control area 324 may display control and/orheader information associated with the email message, such as the emailaddresses of the sender and recipient of the message. As an example, thecontrol area 324 shows that the sender of the message has the emailaddress “task.mgmt@company.com.” This is an example email address thatmay be associated with an account used by the information managementsystem 100 for the communication of email messages. Further to thisexample, the control area 324 shows that the email address of the workerassigned to perform the task recurrence is “john.smith@company.com.” Thecontrol area 324 may also display information such as a subject of theemail message and the time the email message was sent. The control area324 may also display information that indicates whether any attachmentsare associated with the email message. The Reply button 322 may respondto user input to generate a new display element (not depicted) torespond to the email message.

The message body area 326 may display the body of the email message. Asshown in FIG. 3, the message body area 326 display an example emailmessage that describes a task recurrence to be performed by an exampleworker named John Smith.

The message body area 326 may also include one or more Uniform ResourceIdentifiers (URIs) or hyperlinks, such as the “Completed Task” link, the“Incomplete Task” link, the “Comments” link, and/or the “Redirect Task”link. These links may be defined according to the mailto URI scheme orother appropriate format, and each may describe a new email message thatmay be generated by the worker email client module 118 when that link isselected. A mailto URI scheme may include one or any combination of thefollowing fields: a “mailto:” and/or “to” field that indicate one ormore email addresses of recipients of the new message; a “Copy To” or“CC” field that indicates one or more email addresses of recipients towhom a copy of the new message should be sent; a “Blind Copy To” or“BCC” field that indicates one or more email addresses of recipients towhom a blind copy of the new message should be sent; a field thatindicates the subject of the new message; and a field that indicates thebody of the new message. A mailto hyperlink may be defined according tothe format described in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC2368.

Each of the hyperlinks may specify that the subject field in the newemail message includes an action type parameter that indicates a type ofan action to be performed by the information management system 100.Types of actions that the information management system 100 may performinclude updating the task information database 116 to indicate that atask has been completed or is incomplete, updating the task informationdatabase 116 with a comment related to a task, reassigning a task fromthe currently-assigned worker to a new worker, and/or other actions.Further, each of the hyperlinks may specify that the subject field inthe new email message includes an identifier of the task recurrence thatis described in the message body area 326. Further, each of thehyperlinks may specify that the new email message should be addressed toan email account used by the information management system 100.

The “Completed Task” hyperlink may include information that describes anemail message that, if received by the information management system100, will indicate to the information management system 100 that a taskrecurrence has successfully been completed, and that the taskinformation database 116 should be updated accordingly. As an example,the task recurrence described in the message body area 326 may have anidentifier of “ID001,” and an action type parameter that indicates thatthe task information database 116 should be updated to reflectcompletion of a task may be “COMPLETED$.” Further to this example, theCompleted Task hyperlink may describe a new email message with a subjectthat includes the text “Response Task ID001 COMPLETED$.”

The “Incomplete Task” hyperlink may include information that describesan email message that, if received by the information management system100, will indicate to the information management system 100 that a taskrecurrence is incomplete. As an example, the task recurrence describedin the message body area 326 may have an identifier of “ID001,” and anaction type parameter that indicates that the task information database116 should be updated to reflect that the task is incomplete may be“INCOMPLETE$.” Further to this example, the Incomplete Task hyperlinkmay describe a new email message with a subject that includes the text“Response Task ID001 INCOMPLETE$.”

The “Comments” hyperlink may include information that describes an emailmessage that, if received by the information management system 100, willindicate to the information management system 100 that the worker isproviding a comment on a task recurrence. As an example, the taskrecurrence described in the message body area 326 may have an identifierof “ID001,” and an action type parameter that indicates that the taskinformation database 116 should be updated to include the comments maybe “INPROGRESS$.” Further to this example, the Incomplete Task hyperlinkmay describe a new email message with a subject that includes the text“Response Task ID001 INPROGRESS$.” As will be described in furtherdetail below, by using a “Comments” email message, a worker may providecomments to the information management system 100. Comments may includeinformation such as whether the worker needs additional support tocomplete a task recurrence, whether the worker is concerned about theirprogress with respect to a task recurrence, and/or any other informationprovided by the worker.

The “Redirect Task” link may include information that describes an emailmessage that, if received by the information management system 100, willindicate to the information management system 100 that the worker isrequesting that the task or task recurrence mentioned in the messagebody area 326 be reassigned to a different worker. As an example, thetask recurrence described in the message body area 326 may have anidentifier of “ID001,” and an action type parameter that indicates thatthe task information database 116 should be updated to reassign a taskmay be “REDIRECT$.” Further to this example, the Redirect Task hyperlinkmay describe a new email message with a subject that includes the text“Response Task ID001 REDIRECT$.” The Redirect Task hyperlink may alsospecify that the body of the new message begins with the text “NewAssigned User Email Address:.” As will be described in further detailbelow, a worker may add the email address of a worker to the body of theemail message generated based on the Redirect Task hyperlink, andthereby reassign a particular task or task recurrence to a differentworker.

The worker email client module 118 may receive a user input thatindicates that one of the hyperlinks displayed in the message body area326 is selected. The user input may be, for example, a mouse click,keyboard input, or any other type of input that indicates that ahyperlink is selected. Referring again to FIG. 2A, the worker emailclient module 118 may, in response to this user input, generate aresponse message as specified by the selected hyperlink (step 240).Generation of the response message may include displaying the generatedresponse message in one or more user interface elements.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4, FIG. 4 shows an examplemessage composition window 420 that may be displayed in response to aselection hyperlink from the message body area 326 of FIG. 3 (step 240).The message composition window 420 of FIG. 4 may include a Send button422, a To area 421, a CC area 423, a BCC area 425, a Subject area 427,and a message body area 426. The Send button 422 in the messagecomposition window 420 of FIG. 4 may be responsive to input from a usersuch as a mouse click, keyboard input, or any other type of input. Thedifferent areas 421, 423, 425, 426, 427 in the message compositionwindow 420 display different portions of an email message. For example,the To area 421 includes text that indicates email addresses to whichthe email message is addressed, while the message body area 426 displaysthe contents of the body of the email message. Each or any of thesedifferent areas 421, 423, 425, 426, 427 may be editable based on userinput. Changes to the contents of these areas 421, 423, 425, 427, 426may be change the corresponding portion of the email message.

FIG. 4 shows an example wherein the Completed Task hyperlink from themessage body area 326 of FIG. 3 is selected. The To area 421 indicatesthat the message is addressed to task.mgmt@company.com. The Subject area427 indicates that the subject of the message is “Response Task ID001COMPLETED$.” The CC area 423, BCC area 425, and message body area 426are blank. In an instance where a different hyperlink from the messagebody area 326 of FIG. 3 (e.g., the Incomplete Task hyperlink, Commentshyperlink, or Redirect Task hyperlink) is selected, the display areas421, 423, 425, 427, 426 in the message composition window 420 mayinclude contents specified by the selected different hyperlink.

A user may add text to the body of the email message by adding text toor changing the text in the message body area 426. As will be describedin further detail below, the information management system 100 mayinterpret the text in the message body of an email message in differentways, based on information indicated in the subject of the email messageand/or the purpose of the email message. For example, the body of theemail message may be interpreted by the information management system100 as a comment related to the completion of a task recurrence, or theinformation management system 100 may expect the body of the emailmessage to include an email address of the new user to whom a task ortask recurrence is being reassigned.

Referring now to both FIG. 2B and FIG. 4, the worker email client module118 may, in response to a selection of the Send button 422, transmit theemail message based on the contents of the 421, 423, 425, 426, 427 inthe message composition window 420 (step 242).

The system email client module 108 and the update module 104 may thenreceive the email message (step 244). This may include, for example, theupdate module 104 periodically querying the system email client module108 for information related to new messages received by the system emailclient module 108 for one or more of the email accounts used by theinformation management system 100. Referring again to the exampledescribed above with reference to FIG. 4, the email message may beaddressed to task.mgmt@company.com. Further to this example, the updatemodule 104 may periodically obtain new messages from the system emailclient module 108 that have been received for the task.mgmt@company.comemail account.

The update module 104 (in conjunction with the database module 114) maythen verify the contents of the received message and update the taskinformation database 116 accordingly (step 246). This may include, forexample, the update module 104 parsing the contents of the receivedemail message to determine if the message is formatted appropriately.For example, the update module 104 may be configured to expect that areceived email message may include certain contents in its subjectfield, related to the type and/or purpose of the message. The updatemodule 104 may determine whether the subject field of the messagecontains expected text such as “COMPLETED$,” “INCOMPLETE$,”“INPROGRESS$,” or “REDIRECT$.” The update module 104 may also determinewhether the email address indicated as the sender of the messagecorresponds to the worker assigned to the corresponding task, and/orwhether a task identifier of task recurrence identifier included in thesubject of the message is valid.

Alternatively or additionally, if the received message is a message forredirecting a task or task recurrence to a new worker, the update module104 may verify that reassignment of the task or task recurrence ispermitted. This may include, for example, determining whetherinformation about the new worker is included in the task informationdatabase 116, whether the new worker is associated with the organizationwith which the task or task recurrence is associated, and/or whether theworker attempting to reassign the task or task recurrence is anadministrator and/or has appropriate privileges to reassign the task.

If the update module 104 successfully verifies the contents of theresponse message, the update module 104 may communicate with thedatabase module 114 to update the task information database 116accordingly. For example, if the received message indicates that a taskrecurrence has been completed or is incomplete, the task informationdatabase 116 will be updated to reflect the complete/incomplete statusof the task recurrence. If the task recurrence is complete, this mayalso include the task information database 116 being updated to indicatethat the worker who transmitted the response message completed the task.Further, the task information database 116 may be updated to indicatethat the task was completed as of the time that the response email wasreceived. Additionally, the update module 104 may add the text in thebody of the email message to the task information database 116 as acomment on the task recurrence. Alternatively, if the received messageis a comments message (i.e., the subject of the email includes“INPROGRESS$”), the update module 104 will add the text in the body ofthe email message to the task information database as a comment on thetask recurrence. Alternatively, if the received message is areassignment message, the update module 104 will update the taskinformation database 116 to reflect that the task or task recurrence hasbeen reassigned to the new worker.

As described above, the update module 104 may add a comment related to atask recurrence to the task information database 116 that is based onthe contents of the received email message body. When doing so, theupdate module 104 may determine whether the email message body containsan email signature for the worker that transmitted the email message.This may be performed by, for example, comparing the text in the emailmessage body to an email signature for associated with the worker thatis stored in the task information database 116. If the message bodycontains an email signature, the update module 104 may remove thesignature from the message body before adding the message body as acomment into the task information database 116.

The update module 104 and/or the system email client module 108 may thengenerate a result message that indicates the results of the messageverification and database update (step 248). This may include the updatemodule 104 generating the contents of the result message, andcommunicating the contents to the system email client module 108. If theupdate module 104 determined that the response message could not beverified, the update module 104 may generate contents for an emailmessage that indicate the reason why the response message could not beverified. For example, the contents may indicate that the taskrecurrence identifier in the response message was invalid, or that theresponse message was invalid for any of the other reasons describedabove. Alternatively, if the update module 104 and the database module114 successfully updated the task information database 116 based on theresponse message, the update module 104 may generate contents for anemail message that indicate that the update was successful. Thegenerated result message may be addressed to indicate that it is beingsent by one of the email accounts used by the system email client module108.

The system email client module 108 may then transmit the generatedresult email message to the worker email client module 118 (step 250).

FIGS. 5A-5B show a method for updating the task information databasewith information related to new workers, new tasks, and/or newassignments of tasks to workers. FIGS. 5A-5B shows the database module114, the update module 104, the system email client module 108, and theworker email client module 118.

The method of FIGS. 5A-5B may begin with the update module 104 and/orthe system email client module 108 generating an administrative emailmessage for transmission to the worker email client module 118 (step530). The administrative email message may indicate that it is beingsent by one of the email accounts used by the system email client module108. The administrative email message may include one or more mailtohyperlinks that the worker email client module 118 may use to create anew email message. The hyperlinks may, for example, specify emailmessages for performing one or more administrative tasks in theinformation management system 100 such as adding a new user to the taskinformation database 116, adding a new task to the task informationdatabase 116, and/or reassigning tasks in the task information database116 to different users.

The system email client module 108 may then transmit the generatedadministrative email message to the worker email client module 118 (step532). After receiving the administrative email message, the worker emailclient module 118 may display the received administrative email message(step 534).

Referring now to both FIG. 5A and FIG. 6, FIG. 6 shows an example emaildisplay window 620 that may be used by the worker email client module118 to display the received administrative message (step 534). The emaildisplay window 620 of FIG. 6 includes a Reply button 622, a control area624, and a message body area 626. The control area 624 may displaycontrol and/or header information associated with the administrativeemail message, such as the email addresses of the sender and recipientof the message. The Reply button 622 may respond to user input togenerate a new display element (not depicted) to respond to theadministrative email message.

The message body area 626 in the email display window 620 may displaythe body of the administrative email message. As an example, the messagebody area 626 may include one or more URIs or hyperlinks, such as the“Add New User” link, the “Add New Task” link, and/or the “ReassignTask(s)” link. These links may be defined according to the mailto URIscheme or other appropriate format, and each may describe a new emailmessage that may be generated by the worker email client module 118 whenthat link is selected. Each of the hyperlinks may specify that thesubject field in the new email message includes an indicator of thepurpose of the hyperlink. For example, the “Add New User” hyperlink mayinclude the action type parameter “NEWUSER$” to indicate that themessage relates to the addition of a new worker to the task informationdatabase 116. Further, each of the hyperlinks may specify that thesubject field in the new email message includes an identifier of theclient with which the subject matter of the new email is associated.Additionally, each of the hyperlinks may specify that the new emailmessage should be addressed to an email account used by the informationmanagement system 100.

The Add New User hyperlink may include information that describes anemail message that may be used to add information for a new user to thetask information database 116. As an example, the worker email clientmodule 118 may be used by a worker that is associated with anorganization that has an identifier of “ORG001,” and an action typeparameter that indicates that the task information database 116 shouldbe updated to add a new user may be “NEWUSER$.” Further to this example,the Add New User hyperlink may describe a new email message with asubject that includes the text “Response Client ID001 NEWUSER$.” The AddNew User hyperlink may also describe that the body of the new emailmessage should include the following text:

“First Name:

Last Name:

Position:

Email:

Phone 1:

Phone 2:

Fax:.”

The Add New Task hyperlink may include information that describes anemail message that may be used to add a new task to the task informationdatabase 116. As an example, the worker email client module 118 may beused by a worker that is associated with an organization that has anidentifier of “ORG001,” and an action type parameter that indicates thatthe task information database 116 should be updated to add a new taskmay be “TASKS.” Further to this example, the Add New Task hyperlink maydescribe a new email message with a subject that includes the text“Response Client ID001 TASKS.” The Add New User hyperlink may alsodescribe that the body of the new email message should include thefollowing text:

“Task Name:

Task Due Date:

Alert Date One:

Alert Date Two:

Alert Date Three:

Assigned User Email Address:.”

The Reassign Task(s) hyperlink may include information that describes anemail message that may be used to reassign one or more tasks from oneworker to another worker. As an example, the worker email client module118 may be used by a worker that is associated with an organization thathas an identifier of “ORG001,” and an action type parameter thatindicates that the task information database 116 should be updated toreassign tasks may be “ASSIGN$.” Further to this example, the ReassignTask(s) hyperlink may describe a new email message with a subject thatincludes the text “Response Client ID001 ASSIGN$.” The Reassign Task(s)hyperlink may also describe that the body of the new email messageshould include the following text:

“Task Name:

Older User Email:

New User Email:.”

The worker email client module 118 may receive a user input thatindicates that one of the hyperlinks displayed in the message body area626 of the email display window 620 is selected. The user input may be,for example, a mouse click, keyboard input, or any other type of inputthat indicates that a hyperlink is selected. Referring again to FIG. 5A,the worker email client module 118 may, in response to this user input,generate an administrative update message as specified by the selectedhyperlink (step 536). The worker email client module 118 may display thegenerated administrative update message via a display device (notdepicted) in a message composition window (not depicted) with similarcharacteristics to the message composition window 420 of FIG. 4. A usermay modify the generated administrative update message using the messagecomposition window 420. This may include adding text to the body of theadministrative update message and/or changing the text of the body ofthe administrative update message. For example, to specify a new user tobe added to the task information database 116, the user may addadditional text to the body of the administrative update message relatedto the new user, such as a first name, last name, position, emailaddress, one or more phone numbers, and/or a fax number. As an example,the user may modify the body of the administrative update message to adda new user named “James Smith,” such that body of the administrativeupdate message includes the following text:

“First Name: James

Last Name: Smith

Position: Worker

Email: james.smith@company.com

Phone 1: 100-100-1000

Phone 2: 100-100-1001

Fax:. 100-100-1002.”

To specify a new task that should be added to the task informationdatabase 116, the user may add additional text to the body of theadministrative update message such as a task name, task due date, alertdates, and/or an email address of the assigned worker. To specify thereassignment of a task, the user may add additional text to the body ofthe administrative update message, such as a task name, the emailaddress of the currently assigned user, and the email address of theuser to whom the task should be reassigned.

The worker email client module 118 may then transmit the administrativeupdate message to the system email client module 108 (step 538).

Referring now to FIG. 5B, the system email client module 108 and theupdate module 104 may then receive the administrative update emailmessage (step 540). This may include, for example, the update module 104periodically querying the system email client module 108 for informationrelated to new messages received by the system email client module 108for one or more of the email accounts used by the information managementsystem 100.

The update module 104 (in conjunction with the database module 114) maythen verify the contents of the received administrative update messageand update the task information database 116 accordingly (step 542).This may include, for example, the update module 104 parsing thecontents of the received administrative update email message todetermine if the message is formatted appropriately. For example, theupdate module 104 may be configured to expect that a received emailmessage may include certain contents in its subject field, related tothe type and/or purpose of the message. For example, the update module104 may determine whether the subject field of the message containsexpected text such as “NEWUSER$,” “TASKS,” or “ASSIGNS.” The updatemodule 104 may also determine whether the message body contains expectedtext related to the type and/or purpose of the message. If the subjectof the message contains “NEWUSER$,” the update module 104 may parse thebody of the message to determine whether it includes information relatedto a new user such as a first name, last name, position, email address,one or more phone numbers, and/or a fax number. If the subject of themessage contains the text “TASKS,” the update module 104 may parse thebody of the message to determine whether it includes information relatedto a new task such as the task name, a task due date, alert dates,and/or an email address of a worker assigned to the task. If the subjectof the message contains “ASSIGN$,” the update module 104 may parse thebody of the message to determine whether it includes information relatedto a reassignment of a task, such as a task name, the email address ofthe currently assigned user, and the email address of the user to whomthe task should be reassigned.

The update module 104 may also determine whether the worker whotransmitted the administrative update message is associated with theclient identified in the subject of the message. Further, the updatemodule 104 may determine whether the worker who transmitted theadministrative update message is an administrative user and/or has theprivileges required to perform the requested update. Alternatively oradditionally, if the received administrative update message is a messagefor redirecting one or more tasks to a new worker, the update module 104may verify that reassignment of the task is permitted. This may include,for example, determining whether information about the new worker isincluded in the task information database 116, and/or whether the newworker is associated with the organization with which the tasks areassociated.

If the update module 104 successfully verifies the contents of theadministrative update message, the update module 104 may communicatewith the database module 114 to update the task information database 116as specified in the administrative update message. In an instance wherethe administrative update message related to the reassignment of a task(i.e., if the subject of the message contains “ASSIGN$,”), a specialidentifier for task name may be used to reassign all of the taskscurrently associated with a user to a new user. As an example, if themessage includes the text “ALL” as an indicator of the task name, theupdate module 104 will update the task information database 116 toreflect that all of the tasks associated with the currently-assignedworker are being reassigned to the new worker.

The update module 104 and/or the system email client module 108 may thengenerate a result message that indicates the results of the messageverification and database update (step 544). This may include the updatemodule 104 generating the contents of the result message, andcommunicating the contents to the system email client module 108. If theupdate module 104 determined that the administrative update messagecould not be verified, the update module 104 may generate contents foran email message that indicate the reason why the administrative updatemessage could not be verified. Alternatively, if the update module 104and the database module 114 successfully updated the task informationdatabase 116 based on the administrative update message, the updatemodule 104 may generate contents for an email message that indicate thatthe update was successful. The generated result message may be addressedto indicate that it is being sent by one of the email accounts used bythe system email client module 108.

The system email client module 108 may then transmit the generatedresult email message to the worker email client module 118 (step 546).

FIGS. 7A-7B show a first method for the generation and transmission of areport that describe the status of task completion. FIGS. 7A-7B showsthe database module 114, the report module 102, the system email clientmodule 108, the report display module 112, and the worker email clientmodule 118.

The method of FIGS. 7A-7B may begin with the report module 102 and/orthe system email client module 108 generating report link email messagefor transmission to the worker email client module 118 (step 730). Thereport link email message may indicate that it is being sent by one ofthe email accounts used by the system email client module 108. Thereport link email message may include one or more mailto hyperlinks thatthe worker email client module 118 may use to create a new emailmessage. The contents of the hyperlinks may be generated by the reportmodule 102 to include information that is specific to the worker towhich the email message is addressed. For example, a hyperlink mayspecify a request for a report related to tasks that are associated withthe organization with which the worker is associated.

The system email client module 108 may then transmit the generatedreport link email message to the worker email client module 118 (step730). After receiving the report link email message, the worker emailclient module 118 may display the received report link email message(step 732).

Referring now to both FIG. 7A and FIG. 8, FIG. 8 shows an example emaildisplay window 820 that may be used by the worker email client module118 to display the received report link message (step 734). The emaildisplay window 820 of FIG. 8 includes a Reply button 822, a control area824, and a message body area 826. The control area 824 may displaycontrol and/or header information associated with the report link emailmessage, such as the email addresses of the sender and recipient of themessage. The Reply button 822 may respond to user input to generate anew display element (not depicted) to respond to the report link emailmessage.

The message body area 826 in the email display window 820 may displaythe body of the report link email message. As an example, the messagebody area 826 may include one or more URIs or hyperlinks, such as the“Report One” link, the “Report Two” link, and/or the “Report Three”link. These links may be defined according to the mailto URI scheme orother appropriate format, and each may describe a new email message thatmay be generated by the worker email client module 118 when that link isselected. Each of the hyperlinks may specify that the subject field inthe new email message includes an indicator of the purpose of thehyperlink. For example, the “Report One” hyperlink may include theaction type parameter “REPORT$” to indicate that the message indicates arequest for the information management system 100 to generate andtransmit a report. Further, each of the hyperlinks may specify that thesubject field in the new email message includes an identifier of theclient with which the subject matter of the new email is associated.Additionally, each of the hyperlinks may specify that the new emailmessage should be addressed to an email account used by the informationmanagement system 100.

The Report One hyperlink may include information that describes an emailmessage that may be used to request a report. As an example, the workeremail client module 118 may be used by a worker that is associated withan organization that has an identifier of “ORG001.” Further to thisexample, the Report One hyperlink may describe a new email message witha subject that includes the text “Response Client ID001 REPORT$.” TheReport One hyperlink may also specify that the new email message shouldinclude text in the body of the message that describes the report beingrequested. As an example, the Report One hyperlink may indicate that thebody of the message includes the text “TaskSummaryReport.” The body ofthe message may indicate what type of report is being requested, and/ormay indicate parameters (e.g., a time range, a particular task or groupof tasks, a particular worker or group of workers) on which therequested report should be focused.

The Report Two and Report Three hyperlinks may specify email messagesthat are similar to the message specified by the Report One hyperlink,though they may specify different parameters for the bodies of theirrespective messages. As an example, the Report Two hyperlink may specifya report for tasks that have been performed for a first time period(such as the past month), while the Report Three hyperlink may specify areport for tasks that have been performed for a second time period (suchas the past six months).

The worker email client module 118 may receive a user input thatindicates that one of the hyperlinks displayed in the message body area826 of the email display window 820 is selected. The user input may be,for example, a mouse click, keyboard input, or any other type of inputthat indicates that a hyperlink is selected. Referring again to FIG. 7A,the worker email client module 118 may, in response to this user input,generate a report request email message as specified by the selectedhyperlink (step 736). The worker email client module 118 may display thegenerated report request message via a display device (not depicted) ina message composition window (not depicted) with similar characteristicsto the message composition window 420 of FIG. 4. A user may modify thegenerated report request message using the message composition window.This may include adding text to the body of the report request messageand/or changing the text of the body of the report request message.

The worker email client module 118 may then transmit the report requestmessage to the system email client module 108 (step 738).

Referring now to FIG. 7B, the system email client module 108 and thereport module 102 may then receive the report request message (step740). This may include, for example, the report module 102 periodicallyquerying the system email client module 108 for information related tonew messages received by the system email client module 108 for one ormore of the email accounts used by the information management system100.

The report module 102 (in conjunction with the database module 114) maythen verify the contents of the received report request message and, ifthe received report request is acceptable, generate the requested report(step 742). Verifying the report request may include the report module102 determining whether the worker who transmitted the report requestmessage is associated with the client identified in the subject of themessage. Further, the report module 102 may determine whether the workerwho transmitted the report request message is an administrative userand/or has the privileges required to receive the requested report.

Verifying the report request message may also include the report module102 determining whether the message is formatted correctly. For example,the report module 102 may be configured to determine whether the subjectfield of the message contains text such as “REPORT$,” and/or whether thebody of the email includes appropriate parameters for defining the scopeof a report.

If the report module 102 successfully verifies the contents of thereport request message, the report module 102 may obtain data from thetask information database 116 (via the database module 114) and generatea report as specified in the report request message. The report may beone or more electronic files. The one or more electronic files may bedefined according to formats such as but not limited to PortableDocument Format (PDF), Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), and/or any otherappropriate format.

The report module 102 and/or the system email client module 108 may thengenerate a report email message for transmission to the worker emailclient module 118 (step 744). This may include the report module 102communicating the contents of the report message to the system emailclient module 108. The generated report message may be addressed toindicate that it is being sent by one of the email accounts used by thesystem email client module 108, and the generated report message mayinclude the one or more report documents as attachments. The systememail client module 108 may then transmit the report email message tothe worker email client module 118 (step 746). The report display module112 may then display the report (step 748) on a display device (notdepicted).

Referring now to both FIG. 7B and FIG. 9, FIG. 9 shows a first examplepage 920 of a report that may be displayed by the report display module112 (step 748). The first example page 920 shows report data thatrelates to tasks assigned to workers in an organization with ID “ORG001”for a given month. ORG001, according to this example, has twofacilities, named “Facility One” and “Facility Two.” The first examplepage 920 includes a report area 922, which includes a bar graph 924. Thebar graph 924 includes a Facility Two complete area 930, which indicatesthe total number of task recurrences that have been completed atFacility Two in the month. The bar graph 924 also includes a FacilityOne complete area 926 and a Facility One incomplete area 928, whichindicate the total number of task recurrences that have been completedand which still remain incomplete, respectively, at Facility One.

Referring now to both FIG. 7B and FIG. 10, FIG. 10 shows a secondexample page 1020 of a report that may be displayed by the reportdisplay module 112 (step 748). The second example page 1020 continueswith the example from the first example page 920 of FIG. 9, and showsdata related to the completion of tasks at Facility One. The secondexample page 1020 includes a pie chart 1028 that indicates thepercentage of completed versus incomplete task recurrences for themonth. The second example page 1020 also includes a firstworker-specific task area 1022, which indicates the status of tasks thatare assigned to a first user (John Smith) and are expected to becompleted within the month. The second example page 1020 also includes asecond worker-specific task area 1024, which indicates the status oftasks that are assigned to a second user (Jane smith) and are expectedto be completed within the month. As an alternative to the organizationof tasks shown in the worker-specific task areas 1022, 1024, tasks maybe organized in the worker-specific task areas 1022, 1024 according torecurrence intervals. For example, information related to non-recurringtasks may be included above tasks which recur on a weekly basis, whichmay be included above tasks which recur on a monthly basis, and so on.

The example pages 920, 1020 described above with reference to FIG. 9 andFIG. 10 are provided by way of example. Alternatively or additionally,the reports generated by the report module 102 may include anycombination of information described above as stored in the taskinformation database 116.

FIG. 11 shows a second method for the generation and transmission of areport that describe the status of task completion. FIG. 11 shows thedatabase module 114, the report module 102, the system email clientmodule 108, the report display module 112, and the worker email clientmodule 118.

The method of FIG. 11 may begin with the worker email client module 118transmitting a report request email message to the system email clientmodule 108 (step 1130). The system email client module 108 and thereport module 102 may then receive the report request message (step1132). This may include, for example, the report module 102 periodicallyquerying the system email client module 108 for information related tonew messages received by the system email client module 108 for one ormore of the email accounts used by the information management system100.

The report module 102 (in conjunction with the database module 114) maythen verify the contents of the received report request message and, ifthe received report request is acceptable, generate a report (step1134). Verifying the report request may include the report module 102determining whether the address from which the report request email wassent is a valid email address, as stored in the task informationdatabase 116. The report module 102 may also determine, based on theemail address, whether the worker associated with the email address isan administrative user and/or has the privileges required to receive areport.

If the report module 102 successfully verifies the contents of thereport request message, the report module 102 may obtain data from thetask information database 116 (via the database module 114) and generatea report. Based on the email address from which the request message wassent, the report module 102 may determine which organization the workeris associated with, and may generate a default report that is configuredfor the worker's organization. The default report may includeinformation for all of or some subset of the facilities associated withthe organization, and/or the default report may be focused on somesubset of workers associated with the organization, and/or the defaultreport may be focused on a configured time period such as the currentmonth, last six months, or other time period. Alternatively oradditionally, the report module 102 may be configured to generate adifferent default for different workers within an organization. Thereport module 102 may, for example, determine which worker requested thereport based on the email address from which the report request wassent, and generate a default report that is configured as a defaultreport for that specific worker. The generated report may be one or moreelectronic files, and may possess any characteristic or combination ofcharacteristics of the reports described above as generated by thereport module 102 with respect to FIGS. 7A-7B, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and/orFIG. 10.

The report module 102 and/or the system email client module 108 may thengenerate a report email message for transmission to the worker emailclient module 118 (step 1136). This may include the report module 102communicating the contents of the report message to the system emailclient module 108. The generated report message may be addressed toindicate that it is being sent by one of the email accounts used by thesystem email client module 108, and the generated report message mayinclude the one or more report documents as attachments. The systememail client module 108 may then transmit the report email message tothe worker email client module 118 (step 1138). The report displaymodule 112 may then display the report (step 1140) on a display device(not depicted). The report display module 112 may display the report infashion identical or similar to the display of the report describedabove with reference to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 shows an example system 1200 that may be used to implement thearchitecture 120 of FIG. 1. The example system 120 includes anadministrative server 1250, a database server 1260, a client device1270, and one or more networks 1280.

The administrative server 1250 may include a processor 1252, memorydevice 1254, communication interface 1256, input device interface 1255,display device interface 1257, and storage device 1259. The databaseserver 1260 may include a processor 1262, memory device 1264,communication interface 1266, input device interface 1265, displaydevice interface 1267, and storage device 1269. The client device 1270may include a processor 1272, memory device 1274, communicationinterface 1276, input device interface 1275, display device interface1277, and storage device 1279.

The administrative server 1250 may be configured to perform any featureor combination of features described above with reference to FIGS. 1-11as performed by the report module 102, update module 104, alert module106, system email client module 108, and/or database module 124. Thestorage device 1269 in the database server 1260 may store the taskinformation database 116 or a portion thereof. The database server 1260may be configured to perform any feature or combination of featuresdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1-10 related to the storage ofdata in the task information database 116. The client device 1270 may beconfigured to perform any feature or combination of features describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1-11 as performed by the worker emailclient module 128 and/or the report display module 122. The clientdevice 1270 may be, for example, a desktop computer, a laptop computer,a netbook, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), acellular phone, or any other appropriate device.

Each or any of the memory devices 1254, 1264, 1274 may be or include adevice such as a Dynamic Random Access Memory (D-RAM), Static RAM(S-RAM), or other RAM or a flash memory. Each or any of the storagedevices 1259, 1269, 1279 may be or include a hard disk, amagneto-optical medium, an optical medium such as a CD-ROM, a digitalversatile disk (DVDs), or Blu-Ray disc (BD), or other type of device forelectronic data storage.

Each or any of the communication interfaces 1256, 1266, 1276 may be, forexample, a communications port, a wired transceiver, or a wirelesstransceiver. Each or any of the network interfaces 1256, 1266, 1276 maybe capable of communicating using technologies such as Ethernet, fiberoptics, microwave, xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line), Wireless Local AreaNetwork (WLAN) technology, wireless cellular technology, and/or anyother appropriate technology. The communication interfaces 156, 166,1276 may be used by the administrative server 1250, database server 160,and/or client device 1270 to communicate via the one or more networks1280. The communication interfaces 156, 166, 1276 may be used by theadministrative server 1250, database server 160, and/or client device1270 to communicate any message or combination of messages describedabove with reference to FIGS. 1-11 as communicated by the system emailclient module 108, worker email client module 118, and/or databasemodule 114. The one or more networks 1280 may include one or moreprivate networks and/or one or more public networks such as theInternet. The one or more networks 1280 may be based on wired and/orwireless networking technologies.

Each or any of the input device interfaces 1255, 1265, 1275 may aninterface configured to receive input from an input device such as akeyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a scanner, a touch screen, a touch pad,a stylus pad, and/or other device. Each or any of the input deviceinterfaces 1255, 1265, 1275 may operate using a technology such asUniversal Serial Bus (USB), PS/2, Bluetooth, infrared, and/or otherappropriate technology.

Each or any of the display device interfaces 1257, 1267, 1277 may be aninterface configured to communicate data to a display device. Each orany of the display device interfaces 1257, 1267, 1277 may operate usingtechnology such as Video Graphics Array (VGA), Super VGA (S-VGA),Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High-Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI), or other appropriate technology.

The memory 1254 of the administrative computer 1250 may storeinstructions which, when executed by the processor 1252, cause theprocessor 1252 to perform any feature or combination of featuresdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1-11 as performed by the reportmodule 102, update module 104, alert module 106, system email clientmodule 108, and/or database module 124. The memory 1264 of the databaseserver 1260 may store instructions which, when executed by the processor1262, cause the processor 1262 to perform any feature or combination offeatures described above with reference to FIGS. 1-11 as related to thestorage of data in the task information database 116. These features mayinclude, for example, executing instructions related to a databasemanagement system, storing and/or modifying data in the task informationdatabase 116, and/or obtaining data from the task information database116. The memory 1274 of the client device 1270 may store instructionswhich, when executed by the processor 1272, cause the processor 1272 toperform any feature or combination of features described above withreference to FIGS. 1-11 as performed by the worker email client module128 and/or the report display module 122.

The client device 1270 may include or be connected to a display device(not depicted) via the display device interface 1277. The display devicemay be, for example, a monitor or television display, a plasma display,a liquid crystal display (LCD), and/or a display based on a technologysuch as front or rear projection, light emitting diodes (LEDs), organiclight-emitting diodes (OLEDs), or Digital Light Processing (DLP). Thedisplay device may be configured to display, based on data received fromthe input device interface 1275, any graphical elements described abovewith reference to FIGS. 1-11 as displayed by the worker email clientmodule 128 and/or the report display module 122.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 1-12, the informationmanagement system 100 may be configured to use one or more emailaccounts that are associated with the information management system 100for the transmission and reception of email communications. In variousconfigurations, different email addresses may be used by the informationmanagement system 100 for different purposes. For example, the updatemodule 104 may be configured to use a first email address for thetransmission/reception of messages, while the report module 104 may beconfigured to use a second email address for the transmission/receptionof messages. Alternatively, the report module 102 and/or update module104 may be configured to use a first email address to transmit/receiveemail messages for performance of the methods of FIGS. 2A-2B, FIGS.5A-5B, and FIGS. 7A-7B, while the report module 102 may be configured touse a second email address to transmit/receive email messages forperformance of the method of FIG. 11. Alternatively or additionally, thereport module 102, update module 104, and/or alert module 106 may beconfigured to use different email addresses for communicating emailmessages to different organizations.

While examples are provided above with respect to FIGS. 1-12 whichincludes the use of email communications, the functionality of theinformation management system 100 and/or the worker email client module126 may also be implemented using different types of communicationstechnology. For example, the features described above with reference toFIGS. 1-12 may also be implemented, mutatis mutandis, using technologiesthat include any one or any combination of: email; instant messaging;enterprise messaging; Short Message Service (SMS); Multimedia MessagingService (MMS); and/or any other appropriate technology for theelectronic communication of data.

When referred to herein, the term “computer-readable storage medium”broadly refers to and is not limited to a register, a cache memory, aROM, a semiconductor memory device (such as a D-RAM, S-RAM, or otherRAM), a magnetic medium such as a flash memory, a hard disk, amagneto-optical medium, an optical medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVDs, orBD, or other type of device for electronic data storage.

Although features and elements are described above in particularcombinations, each feature or element can be used alone or in anycombination with the other features and elements. For example, eachfeature or element as described above with reference to 1-12 may be usedalone without the other features and elements or in various combinationswith or without other features and elements. Sub-elements of the methodsand features described above with reference to FIGS. 1-12 may beperformed in any arbitrary order (including concurrently), in anycombination or sub-combination.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for use in an electronic informationsystem, the method comprising: storing, by a processor, informationregarding a plurality of individuals and information relating to one ormore selections by the plurality of individuals in an informationdatabase; generating, by the processor, a first Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP) email message that includes a plurality of mailto links,wherein each of the plurality of mailto links include a respectivesecurity token and a plurality of fields including: a first field thatindicates an email address that is associated with the electronicinformation system, and a second field that indicates an action to beperformed by the electronic information system, wherein the action to beperformed includes at least: updating, by the processor, particularinformation stored in the information database, and transmitting, by theprocessor, the first SMTP email message to a particular email addressthat is associated with a first individual of the plurality ofindividuals; receiving, by the processor, a second SMTP email message,wherein the second SMTP email message is generated in response to thefirst individual activating a particular mailto link from the pluralityof mailto links; identifying, by the processor, a particular securitytoken and a particular second field that were included in the particularmailto link that was activated to generate the second SMTP emailmessage; determining, by the processor, whether the particular securitytoken is valid; and on a condition that the security token is determinedto be valid, performing, by the processor, an update of the informationdatabase to reflect the action indicated by the particular second field,wherein the action indicates at least one of completion, incompletion,comment, signature and reassignment.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein:the action indicated by the particular second field is the reassignmentof the action from said first individual to a second individual; thesecond email message including an email address of said secondindividual; and the information database is updated by the processor toreassign the action from said first individual to said second individualbased on the email address of said second individual.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: the action indicated by the particular second fieldfurther indicates a request for generation of a report based on contentsof the information database; and the performing includes: generating,the processor the report, and transmitting, by the processor, a thirdemail message to the email address that is associated with said firstindividual, wherein the third email message includes the report.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the electronic information system comprisesan information management system.
 5. An electronic information systemcomprising: an electronic database configured to store: information thatdescribes a plurality of individuals, and information that describes aplurality of selections available to the plurality of individuals; acommunication interface; and a processor that is communicatively coupledto the electronic database and the communication interface, wherein theprocessor is configured to: generate a first Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP) email message that includes a plurality of mailto links,wherein each of the plurality of mailto links includes a respectivesecurity token and a plurality of fields including: a destinationaddress that is associated with the electronic information system, andan actionable parameter that indicates an action to be performed by theelectronic information system, wherein the action to be performedincludes at least updating particular information stored in theelectronic database; transmit, using the communication interface, thefirst SMTP email message to a particular email address that isassociated with a first individual of the plurality of individuals; andreceive, using the communication interface, a second SMTP email message,wherein the second SMTP email message is generated in response to thefirst individual activating a particular mailto link from the pluralityof mailto links; identify a particular security token and a particularaction field that were included in the particular mailto link that wasactivated to generate the second SMTP email message; determine whetherthe particular security token is valid; and on a condition that thesecurity token is determined to be valid, perform an update of theelectronic database to reflect the action indicated by the particularaction field, wherein the action indicates at least one of completion,incompletion, comment, signature and reassignment.
 6. The electronicinformation system of claim 5, wherein said at least one field of thesecond SMTP email message further includes an identifier of a request inthe electronic database.
 7. The electronic information system of claim6, wherein the second SMTP email message includes a comment from thefirst individual; wherein the actionable parameter indicates the updateof the electronic database to include the comment from the firstindividual; and wherein the at least one processor is further configuredto add the comment from the first individual to the electronic database.8. The electronic information system of claim 6, wherein the actionableparameter indicates a reallocation from the first individual to a secondindividual; wherein the second SMTP email message includes an identifierof the reallocation, and an email address of said second individual; andwherein the at least one processor is further configured to update theelectronic database to reflect said reallocation from said individual tosaid second individual.
 9. The electronic information system of claim 5,wherein the second SMTP email message further includes an identifier ofa request in the electronic database.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having processor-executableinstructions stored thereon which, when executed by at least oneprocessor in an electronic information system, cause the at least oneprocessor to perform a method, the method comprising: storinginformation in an information database, wherein the informationdescribes a plurality of individuals and describes a plurality ofselections available to the one or more individuals; generating a firstemail Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) message that includes aplurality of mailto links, wherein each of the plurality of mailto linksincludes a plurality of fields including: a destination address thatindicates an email address that is associated with the electronicinformation system, and an actionable parameter that indicates an actionto be performed by the electronic information system, wherein the actionincludes updating particular information stored in the informationdatabase; transmitting the first email message to a particular emailaddress that is associated with a first individual of said plurality ofindividuals; receiving a second SMTP email message, wherein the secondSMTP email message is generated in response to the first individualactivating a particular mailto link from the plurality of mailto links;identifying, by the processor, a particular security token and aparticular action field that were included in the particular mailto linkthat was activated to generate the second SMTP email message;determining, by the processor, whether the particular security token isvalid; and on a condition that the security token is determined to bevalid, performing, by the processor, an update of the informationdatabase to reflect the action indicated by the particular action field,wherein the action indicates at least one of completion, incompletion,comment, signature and reassignment.